The truth about why women earn less than men

by SB on April 17, 2016 at 9:30am

When I first heard the statement that women are paid less than men I found it very hard to believe. We were told that women get paid less for doing the same work which simply didn’t make any sense to me at all. A male nurse with the same qualifications as a female nurse and the same amount of years on the job should (all things being equal) get paid exactly the same.

As a high school teacher I was paid exactly the same as John who was hired the same day as me. We were both so good in our interview for the English teacher position that the Principal and the HOD of English could not decide which of us should get the job. In the end they gave it to both of us.

Today if I taught in the same school as John he would be paid a lot more than me because he did not leave to have children and he now has many more years experience and has no doubt taken many courses to improve on his skills. That to me is not inequality. I could be earning the same as him if I had chosen to put my children into daycare or had chosen to not have any children.

The reality is that more men than women go into higher paid fields.

If women want to get higher pay they need to take the same subjects men take.

It is all about choice. I chose to disrupt my career. I made the decision to be a full time mother because I valued having a full time mother when I was a kid. A dear friend made a different choice to me and as a result she has a really high income and she deserves it. Her sacrifices were different to mine but no less difficult. Both of us made the right choice. We made the choice that suited us individually.

Helen Clark was able to achieve all that she achieved because she was childless. Being childless puts women on an equal footing with men. The reality is that mothers who work have double the workload whereas fathers who work ( unless they are Solo Dads) do not. I think being able to have children is pretty amazing and special. I don’t regret my choices one little bit.

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If you agree with me that’s nice but what I really want to achieve is to make you question the status quo. Look between the lines, do your own research. Do not be a passive observer in this game we call life.